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Towards a Decision Support System for wicked problems: A literature analysis

Pretorius, Carianne (2016-03)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2016.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well-informed just to be undecided about them (Conklin, 2001, p. 1)
Wicked problems are complex and challenging to solve. This is partially due to changing requirements in the problem definition, as well as the fact that proposed and implemented solutions are generally significant in effect and irreversible in nature.
In contexts where the consequences of a solution to a wicked problem are comprehended as being critical to an organisation's survival, such firms may elect to build or acquire a decision support system (DSS) to assist decision makers with the vital
task of resolving such problems. DSSs have been shown to provide some benefit to users by neutralising cognitive biases as well as improving effectiveness and efficiency of decision making. However, it has been argued that traditional variants of these tools are seldom appropriate for addressing wicked problems, and as such, an alternative approach to solving wicked problems is required to that of typical decision making problems.
The conceptualisation of procedural rationality as a suitable underlying approach for support of wicked problems has been argued in a number of studies. Such research asserts that the approach focusing on the process of decision making as opposed to the substance of the decision process. In order to investigate the nature of wicked problems and decision support in these contexts, a primarily qualitative literature study was completed.
Literature was collected systematically by making use of keyword search, backward search, and forward search. Studies were further analysed to ensure that they explicitly addressed the notion of wicked problems and decision support utilising any
combination of theoretical or empirical approaches. The final literature sample consisted of 35 peer-reviewed journal articles from a number of subject areas.
The quantitative element of the literature study found that empirical case studies are the most common research design in this research area, followed by appliedconcept theoretical studies. It was also discovered that strategic, business, and
organisational planning problems, along with environmental and natural resource planning problems, are the most frequently addressed wicked problem in the literature sample. Finally, the quantitative analysis found that procedural approaches to decision support for wicked problems are the most prevalent in the literature, consisting of almost two thirds of all studies included in the sample.
Qualitative analysis of the literature sample uncovered a number of requirements for wicked problems in the context of DSSs. Examples of common characteristics include tools for collaboration, negotiation, flexible exploration of the decision space, and facilitation of organisational memory through storage and retrieval of previous deliberations.
Finally, the outcomes of all of the previous phases of the study were integrated and a model for procedural DSSs was synthesised, comprising perspectives regarding architecture,
evolutionary design and development, the decision process for procedural decision making, and the characteristics of inquiring organisations which are argued to be the organisational perspective most suitable for procedural DSSs.